I am not a fantastic fan of Forgotten Realms (or high level adventures) and I have not played in a campaign there, so City of the Spider Queen (CotSQ) might seem like a bit of an irrational purchase. When I first spotted it on the Wizards release list, it was listed as a boxed set. Hooray! I thought. Wizards are going back to producing boxes packed full of goodies, so I ordered it straight away.
When CotSQ turned up, it was not a boxed set at all, but a perfect bound trade paperback. I was initially disappointed, but a quick read through did much to entice me into this adventure. There are many design features in this product which lead me to believe that it was intended to be a boxed set, and the confusion over the price of the item would seem to be a clue to this determination as well, though I have no proof!
Like most reviews, there are spoilers in the text that follows...
As in nearly all recent Wizards productions, the presentation of this book is pretty much perfect. The pages have a grainy yellowed old scroll effect and the edges of the paper have a feathered print to give the impression that this is an old book. The cover echos that of the Forgotten Realms hardcover.
The main bulk of the book is solid adventure and is meant for around four characters of 10th level who should reach 18th level by the end of the campaign.
The basic plot has echos of The Night Below and starts off with an appeal from a noble for assistance in stopping some Drow raiders who have been menacing the local populous. This takes the party through an old tomb and into an old Drow city. Once in the Drow city, they start to make discoveries about what has been driving the Drow to make raids on the surface. The trek takes them through about 100-150 miles of underdark filled with interesting encounters, and ends up with a monumental conflict in a large Drow city.
Throughout the adventure text, the encounter level is listed in the title of the encounter which is a handy quick reference as to whether there is danger for the party.
Any creatures which appear in the encounter are referenced and the DM is referred to one of a number of places; the appendix containinig new monsters in the rear of the book, the appendix containing creature stats in the back of the book, the Forgotten Realms campaign setting, the Monster Manual or the Forgotten Realms monstrous compendium. This can be a major pain, with a lot of page-flipping when you have creatures from the two different appendices, and if you are carrying all the books you need, it can mean an awfully heavy load.
Thankfully, there is little real need for the Forgotten Realms books, although you will definitely need the Monster Manual. Even when you have found the creature entry, the stat blocks are quite big (as you would expect for this level of adventure) and it can be tricky to see the information you require when scanning through. For certain creatures, such as vampires and drow, you are referred to a sidebar for some information which means even more page-flipping!
All this page-flipping could have been avoided if the appendices could also have been tear out sections like the maps. (Or if the product had been a boxed set - separate books.) I resorted to photocopying the sections of the appedix that were required.
Most encounters have a boxed section indicating what should be known to the players, and if there are creatures in the room, a very handy tactics section which details what the creatures will do and how they will react. If you are looking for an intensive "role"-playing experience then this product is not the richest there is, with combat making up the most part of the challenge, but there are role-playing opportunities dotted around the campaign and there is one in particular which is good fun.
There is a detachable map section at the back containing all the maps used in the adventure. These maps are also downloadable from the Wizards site. All of these maps are clear, but some are a little small and one or two took me a while to work out. Some of the maps would have looked fantastic as poster-sized maps had this product ended up as a boxed set.
Whether this book is good value for money depends on a lot of factors. Firstly, if you are going to play it, I think it is very good value for money. You are looking at a good few months of play at least. If you are buying it as something to read, then it is poor value alongside say... The Forgotten Realms campaign setting but next door to the Forgotten Realms Monster compendium it is outstanding value.
All niggles aside - this is an imaginative book which won me over on a subject which I don't normally warm to. It is a logical and enjoyable high level romp through the underdark. What a shame it wasn't the boxed set that it could have been.... If Wizards could produce a similar work for first level characters, then we would have a true successor to the Night Below.
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